A Tale of the Great Dog Demon Sesshomaru
by Yours Anonymous
Summary: Set after the manga. Rin is about twenty and is torn between her love for her master and her loyalty as his servant. Can her love transcend the barriers of both class and race? Rated M for later chapters. NOTE: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OR MANGA.
1. Chapter I

Chapter I ~ Dangerous Road

It was the season of the falling leaves. On a steep mountain path deep in the mountains of Akaishi, a cool breeze blew, softly tousling the mysteriously long white locks of the great dog youkai; the great Sesshomaru-sama. He led a small company behind him, consisting of a three-foot tall youkai by the name of Jaken, a two-headed dragon youkai called Ah-Un and sitting astride it; a human girl; Rin. As they followed their lord over ridges and fjords, most times in silence, other times in half ill-humored jest and half childish mischief, the company journeyed on into the beyond.

As night came on, the girl became drowsy and the company made camp. Overhead, the last quarter moon shone weakly through the top tree boughs, devoured by the animated orange glow of the fire. Sesshomaru carried Rin from the back of Ah-un to the fireside, and, being sure not to wake her, arranged her body to fit comfortably into the soft bed of grass and leaves. As a youkai he had no need for sleep, instead he left Jaken to keep watch as he wandered the surrounding forest.

_This scent… Naraku? _

He deftly lifted his head and drew in a deep breath of night air. The scent repulsed, yet at the same time intrigued him. How could something so insidious exist? The thought tormented him. It had only been a decade or so since the last battle at the sacred burial ground of his late father, the once great dog youkai; Inu Taisho. As his thoughts meandered along the maze of memories past, the corners of his mouth drew into a frown. He had, once again, failed to exterminate Naraku; a hanyou and a disgrace to all living things in this world. His displeasure made him rigid.

_Chichioya… You asked me once, "Do you have someone to protect?" _

Sesshomaru sneered at his own weakness. In contradiction to what he had pride-fully thought of himself at the time his father had asked him that question, he now knew he had a different answer.

_Rin… How ridiculous. This Sesshomaru, once the honorable son of Inu Taisho, has now fallen for the sake of a human girl. _

His thoughts were interrupted by the startled cry of that very human girl. Immediately, he turned back running towards camp. Upon his arrival, he saw the cause of Rin's alarm; a low-class youkai with the head of a skull and the body of a serpent.

"Arrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaack!" it screamed as its gruesome body lunged forward, nearly missing Rin's foot. With one swift flick of Sesshomaru's poisonous whip, the youkai was severed in half, from its head to the tip of the tail, vanishing into tiny particles of luminescent light. The ordeal was over.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried, running to his side and clutching at his sleeve. He shrugged away from her, brushing her off with an indifference as cold as ice. Beneath his chilly exterior he really did care that she was safe, but was too afraid of the consequences to show it. He knew she was used to his disposition, so it didn't much matter. Did it?

Rin went back to her place by the fire, bent her head in reverence, and said, apologetically, "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." She was answered by silence. Jaken hit her on the back of the head with his staff.

"This Rin begs forgiveness!" she exclaimed zealously, fully prostrating herself, showing her disgust at her own weakness. Jaken nodded his approval while Sesshomaru stared down unemotionally at Rin. She'd grown to a tolerable age of twenty, but still lacked sufficient skills in the martial arts to defend herself.

He nodded once, turned, and left the camp once again. Cloaked in the shadows of the night he wandered to regain his peace of mind. He meditated.

Dawn was near; the faintest light shimmered on the horizon. Birds began to sing their first-light tunes. Somewhere close by a herd of deer grazed by a trickling stream. Brown, bronze and crimson leaves stirred at his feet. The morning frost crept over the vegetation about him, crackling and popping when his feet touched the ground as he walked further and further away from the camp. Uneasiness was in everything about him; inside him. A time of peril would soon come.


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II ~ Scent of Peril

A week had passed since the incident that night. Rin was still frustrated with her ineptness and therefore held a sullen expression on her face. It seemed nothing could raise her spirits. Sesshomaru had led his company to the rocky coast of Itogawa. Everyone but himself was exhausted. This gave him an excuse to leave Rin with Jaken and Ah-Un. He still loathed himself for letting his heart become prey for a human girl. In the first place, he should never have resurrected her with Tenseiga. Second, he should have tested the powers of Tenseiga on a less deserving subject… perhaps a human male from Rin's massacred village?

Rin awoke. She sat up and leaned back against the wide trunk of a tree. Her body was numb from lack of circulation, and she began to rub her arms and legs. She glanced over at the snoring Jaken, who had grown too accustomed to Rin's internal rhythms from being in almost constant proximity to her. Lord Sesshomaru had gone off somewhere on his own, leaving her free to find someplace to bathe. He always made camp where there was a hot-spring or flowing water nearby. Gingerly she rose from her place, being careful to not make noise, and ventured a short distance into the woods.

Indeed there was a hot-spring! Her master never failed to provide her with the comforts of the outdoors. The vapor that came off the water refreshed and soothed the stiff muscles in her neck and shoulders. As she untied her obi and slid off her rose-red komon and white hiyoku, revealing cream colored skin and pert breasts, she waded into the hot-spring and found a submerged rock to sit on.

She released her hair from the long braid it was usually in, letting her raven locks caress her back, reaching all the way down to her buttocks. Then she began to comb her hair, taking out many knots and snags from the journey, leaving the midnight strands as soft as silk. Humming a somber tune to herself, she let her thoughts stray to her beloved lord. The image of his regal beauty always managed to send shivers of delight all over her young body, heating her porcelain cheeks and making her tongue-tied when next she met him. After all these years she was still by his side, following him wherever he deigned to go, his magnificent form as unchanging as her love for him. She sighed a deep sigh, then sang again.

_"He travels along an unknown road _

_A path that will lead only to triumph _

_But he knows naught of a serving maid's love _

_Nor can he find the warmth in his own heart _

_One day I pray to call him my love _

_My life, my heart, my soul _

_Someday I may have to leave my lord_

_And see if I were dreaming _

_The name of my lord strikes fear unto those _

_Whose souls are slaves to Evil _

_Harken my lord's coming _

_My lord Sesshomaru _

_The great dog demon" _

She laughed; the sound ringing through the trees and made its way to Sesshomaru himself. He followed it to the hot-spring, where he saw the naked Rin perched upon a rock and combing her long black hair. He could smell her heat and feel the same churning sensation in his stomach that she felt. At first he was appalled by this undue emotion, but then it started to grow stronger, moving down into his lower regions, making his hidden member pulse to an alien desire… a wanting of some kind. Never had he felt something akin to the sensations that now rippled through his body like a surge of jyaki. The youkai blood in his veins seemed to be warmed by the image of Rin's silhouette.

"Rin," he said, bluntly. The girl startled and frantically covered herself with her arms, though useless as it was. Sesshomaru started to come towards her along the rocky bank, his piercing amber eyes completely devoid of any emotion; but she saw an underlying rage that she knew to be on the border of violence. Rin stared at him, eyes wide as he loomed over her. She could not help but fear him now.

"Uncover yourself."

She froze.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III ~ A Taste of Desire

"Rin."

She was as still and as unmoving as a carefully crafted statue; a gargoyle.

"Uncover yourself."

Silence.

He grew impatient and somewhat vexed. Rin had never disobeyed him. He knelt before her, staring straight into her frightened black eyes. She remained unyielding to his order, which frustrated him. He reached out his broad hand to her and wrested her folded arms from across her breasts. She let out a startled cry and backed away from him, moving into the water so that it covered her whole body. Shaking from head to foot, she desperately tried to answer her lord, to make up for her disobedience.

"My lord, I cannot---I am too ashamed," she explained, albeit weakly.

He analyzed her words before answering in his monotonous, but deeply authoritative tone.

"You have no shame before me. Come." He beckoned to her with one hand and stood.

Rin obeyed. As if in a trance, she came to him.

Sesshomaru picked up her hiyoku and draped it around her cold shoulders. Then, he picked up her komo. Lastly, after arranging her clothes, he finished tying her obi.

Strangely, his hands lingered at her waist, hovering just enough away so that she could still feel his heat. As they stared mutely into each other's eyes for what seemed a long time, a new consciousness began to dawn.

Sesshomaru held Rin's delicate hands in his, feeling everything her body was telling him. She shook with emotion, pulsing with a heated desire of wanting and of fear. He did not feel any fear of her, but he was wracked with the same illness he'd caught from her. It was raw, violent, aching lust.

In an unguarded moment, Sesshomaru began to slowly lean towards Rin, almost touching. For a minute, it seemed as though he was about to kiss her, but instead studied her face intently. At last, she exhaled and drew another ragged breath. Paralyzed by her fear of the unknown, by her fear of her passion and by fear of her master's actions, Rin's knees gave way under her nerves. Fear gave way to despair as she knew she could never truly be his lover. Sobs escaped her as she thought of her eventual parting from him, when her mortality sent her to the afterlife; a life without Sesshomaru.

His hand gripped the back of her head as he knelt down and brought her head to rest against his chest. He would allow her to cry this once. She looked too pitiful to abandon.

When she had cried 'til there were no more tears left, he cupped her chin and tilted her head backward so she was forced to look at him. Her eyes were still wet with tears and her mouth swollen into a pair of full, red, pouting lips. Stoically, he bent down his head, touching her forehead with his.

"Follow me. Always."


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV ~ Constrained

Rin nodded, her tongue heavy with the knowledge that everything her master said could never be.

_Forever… forever shall I be bound to him – but to never be part of him._

"Rin," the deep voice uttered, "I require more."

Then he kissed her – his lips like the softest flower petals, his breath like the sweetest perfume. He held her tighter to his breast, inviting her to seep inside him, to slowly forget herself in the snow-white folds of his kimono.

The world seemed to be far, far away from them – as if reality was no more…


End file.
